This invention relates to rail car dumper installations and in particular to installations employing rotary dumpers such as are used for discharging bulk material from rail cars by tipping.
It is normally required to operate a rail car dumper without uncoupling each rail car from the train of rail cars being discharged by the dumper. The use of standard size rail cars with couplings that allow the rotation of each car of the coupled train in turn is now widespread, therefore. There are a number of different standard sizes of rail cars, however, and although it is usually possible to ensure that the rail cars of a train are all of the same size, it may be more difficult to arrange that all the trains supplying a particular installation have rail cars of the same standard size. Some variation of the transverse dimensions of the rail cars can be tolerated, especially if they are constructed to the same rail gauge, but problems can arise if they differ in length. The length dimension of the dumper is critical as it must be matched to the distance between the end couplings of each rail car.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,077 describes a rail car dumper which is adapted to accommodate two different lengths of rail car. The tipping structure has a rail car platform projecting through supporting rotary frames at opposite ends of the dumper tipping structure. Beyond the supporting frame at one end the platform has a hinged extension which carries a rail track section reaching to the fixed rail track leading to the tippler structure. When the longer of the two types of rail car is to be tipped, it is supported upon the rail car platform with the hinged section extended. When the shorter rail car is to be received, the hinge section is folded down and an alternative hinged section on the fixed installation is put in its place as an extension of the fixed rail track.
Apart from the fact that this is a relatively complex arrangement, it has the disadvantage that the end frame adjacent the hinged rail sections is within the length of the longer rail cars which require the extension of the rail car platform. It is exposed to the material discharged during tipping therefore, resulting in a high rate of wear from abrasion, and possibly damage to the tipping structure.